


Point of Continuance

by coffeecrowns



Series: born in the summer (sun didn't shine) [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Everyone is Trans, Food, Friendship, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Queerplatonic Relationships, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 14:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8449606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeecrowns/pseuds/coffeecrowns
Summary: John wakes up to a cold nose and the rest of their body stupidly warm. “Thanks Alexander,” they think fondly.OR, a day in the life of third year marine biology student John Laurens, where everyone is trans, eyeliner is debated, Angelica has secret recipes, and John and Alex might not be romantic, but are stupidly cuddly.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of sleeping, it has not been edited well, all I know about university is that I am Afraid.  
> Also, this is largely inspired by the fact that everyone I know and love is very conservative or a baptist Christian. 
> 
> Transphobia like, exists here, but basically just to to be ridiculed. 
> 
> Title inspired by the supposed point at which you cannot go back, only forwards. Interpret loosely.

John wakes up to a cold nose and the rest of their body stupidly warm. “Thanks Alexander,” they think fondly. The boy in question is snoring softly, tucked into the crook of their neck, holding on for dear life. John kisses his forehead, Alexander makes a small upset noise as John’s cold nose hit said forehead. The two are queer platonic, but they all over each other, even more than Laf is with their romantic partners. 

Their phone buzzes. Think of the devil and all that, no surprise its Laf. John thought they were a decent morning person until they roomed with Laf first year. They’re sending out the daily “Pronouns?” text to the group chat. Figuring out gender is hard, easier when all your friends are a) trans and b) normalizing asking pronouns. 

You can tell which of Laf’s partners they spend the night with by who’s first to respond to the “pronouns” text. (None of them are morning people and will sleep through the 6:45 am text unless Laf is right beside them)

Herc responds within a few seconds with “HER” and a smiley face. (useful information, Herc switches frequently) Laf responds with “Morning Miss Mulligan.” It’s cuter to know their probably sitting right next to each other. 

Angelica and Eliza both respond Her, as does Dolley. James responds He, Peggy responds They, and Thomas is probably still asleep. 

No one expects John nor Alex to respond for a bit, Alex sleeps till nine most days before sending a sleepy “he/him”, John runs most mornings, doesn’t bother with much until after their shower. They poke Alex a couple of times, “Alexander,” they half sing, “Wanna come running?” (This has a fifty percent success rate) 

“Yeah okay, all for you QP,” Alexander says after a yawn. 

“Sports Bra or Binder?” John asks. 

“Blergh” is his eloquent response. 

“I’ll make us some toast,” they say instead. 

Standing in their cramping kitchen, waiting the four minutes for their toast to, well, toast, John takes a couple of deep breathes. They don’t have to tell people today. Laf will ask everyday and they can always send their new preference tomorrow. 

(All right, so they’ve told themselves that everyday for the past week and a half)

Their internal conflict is brought short by Alexander arriving to the kitchen, with his T shirt stolen from Herc, basketball shorts, short cropped hair brushed to the side. The toast pops out, and both jump. 

The basketball shorts are a personal favourite of Alexander’s, everyone tells him the neon green/yellow is an eyesore (John), crime against fashion (Herc), and a sin against God (Angelica). His response is a cheerful, if higher pitched than desired, “I know, isn’t it great!” It’s hard to argue with him when he’s so damn happy about it. 

They quickly eat toast, with a thin spread of peanut butter, lace up the runners and off they go. The morning is cool, John is glad for their own running pants, a cross between leggings and sweatpants. Neither are used to the New York weather in November. Its their third year at Columbia, both survived two winters. Alex has a little black fleece hat for running and John has a stupidly warm headband/ear warmer thing. 

John has a little three mile run they do. They run mostly in silence, which doesn’t bother either of them. Its how John wakes up and Alex remembers to enjoy the outside world. Its nice and quiet, per usual. On the last turn before they get back to their apartment building, John says, “So I’m thinking about using they/them for a bit.” 

Bam, easy peasy, (They don’t breathe until Alex smiles.) 

Alex just says, “Hella, I mean, awesome. Are you sticking with John?” 

“Yeah, for now,” they say. The two reach their building, Alexander puts a arm around John’s waist. “I’m proud of you.” John smiles, “Thanks.”

“I still call first shower though,” says Alex likes an afterthought. Some things don’t change. 

John takes their phone out of the both their pocket and the plastic bag they keep it in when running. Opens the group chat, currently named “glittler glue is bae”, and they type out ‘they/them” then a question mark or five. (Alexander’s double or triple or quintuple texting is an awful habit rubbing off on them)

Peggy responds, “Join the club, non-gendered language too?” which is a testament to their squad’s frequent conversations. 

“Please,” is John’s short response. 

All three Schuyler’s respond within the minute with “Np”, Eliza with a smiley face. 

Angelica also sends, “y’all up for a potluck at ours tonight?” 

Alexander both yells to John and sends to the chat “We call dessert!!!” which is impressive because of both how in sync it is but also how John can hear the multiple exclamation points in Alex’s voice. Which John guesses means its time for their shower. 

John sings in the shower and Alexander looks through his Pintrest (90% desserts and 10% clothes he likes) 

They check their phone once dressed in jeans and a hoodie that’s a bit big but no theirs. (They really aren’t sure who’s it is, with the amount of clothing swaps the group does, most clothes are fair game, a holdover from when they all lived in the same hall first year.) 

Thomas asks what Angelica is cooking, and its her famous chicken. None of them know where she picked up the recipe but they do know it does best in large groups. 

Thomas just responds with !!!!!!, followed by, “I think I have the perfect wine this time.” 

Laf says, “I’ll be the judge of that” and also lets Angelica know they’ve got salad. Adrienne is bringing her yam fries, which is always exciting. Laf and Adrienne both love to cook where Herc burn water, so their triad brings two things. 

Dolley is making bread (which is always exciting), Eliza and Peggy will come up with some other veggies since they aren’t allowed to witness the chicken cooking. 

Per usual, they’re running late. A quick low ponytail tucks their hair back, Alexander has travel mugs of coffee ready to go, his full of sugar and John’s with just a splash of milk. They grab backpacks, Alex is a miniature hurricane finding his keys, John lock s up, and they walk with interlocked arms. Their apartment is a short train ride away from campus. They found it together when they decided to move out together. Its tiny and stupidly expensive, but John’s dad funds it. 

(Alex hated the fact John basically owned the apartment but John brought up the argument, “just remember, you’re helping take money from a transphobic politician’s re-election money.” He just stared at John for a minute then said, “Man, you sure you don’t want to do law?”)

Henry Laurens wasn’t sure about Marine Biology (putting it gently), but then John’s GPA went from a 3.2 to a 3.9 after dropping pre-law, and there really wasn’t much he could do about it. 

They split up once they actually get to campus. John’s class isn’t for fifteen minutes so they get a leisurely walk to the bio building. Alexander’s starts in five and normally sprints to his economics class. Asshole is in two different 400 level money related classes this semester, and fast talking his way into a 500 level one next semester. John’s so proud. 

Alex kisses their cheek before running off. John blushes despite themselves and a three-year routine. PDA has never lost its shiny appeal. 

They sit in the second row, liking something between themselves and the prof. Marine Biology means they the first row is more a ‘splash zone’ then a good place to work. John’s engrossed with this particular class, it’s a veterinarian type thing and taking notes of how to rehabilitate sea turtles is where their in their element. 

The two-hour class flies by. Well not so much flies, but John’s focused so it’s certainly not a drag. Unlike his old pre-law classes, which had only the advantage of Alexander and his fondness for arguing. 

They get out of class with a text from the Schuyler’s asking if Dolley and her partners can join for lunch. John texts an affirmative, then starts heading that way. 

There’s also Aarons response to the group chat, he/him. Aaron was drunk late last semester (despite being the second youngest, 19 to Peggy’s 18), confess he isn’t cis but he doesn’t want to bring it up more than that, not wanting to dwell on it until he’s able to live without his grandfather’s help. Playing the long game, which John gets, but also they fell bad. 

They usually meet the Schuyler’s for lunch on Friday’s, before they have their last lab of the week and they each have shorter classes. Peggy is in their first year, so they have English, Angelica has a very difficult psychology related one, she’s fourth year, so even the class’s name eludes John, their more focused on emotionally prepping her for it. Eliza takes a similar approach, but this gears her up for her ethics class. 

They see Eliza, early as always, Peggy in tow, which means the older sibling had aided the process. (Eliza is pretty attached to the label ‘demigirl’, keeping she/her as pronouns but around friends likes non-gendered language. “Just offsets some of the expectations to always be feminine, you know?” she explains.)

Angelica and Thomas, both incredibly busy and smart will rush in to the little café at least ten minutes late, probably bantering in their weird heatless way. John is reminded of debate clubs. At least Thomas and Angelica can do it without creating tension the way Thomas and Alexander do when they go at it. 

In the meantime, both Dolley and James are there. They both pass incredibly well, and look incredible while doing it. Thomas has been good for them, from a fashion point of view and confidence thing. She’s wearing a cute jean skirt and sweater combo, James has a cardigan in a similar shade, and his jeans compliment her own. 

They’re coordinating! They realize. Accidentally saying it aloud. 

The group laughs, well, the group laughs and Peggy snorts. Its breaks up the conversation they walked into, Dolley talking extensively about bread baking, Eliza with rapt attention, James with a doting smile. 

John sits on Eliza’s right. Across the table from 

No doubt where ever Thomas is, they’re running around in jeans and a coordinating shade of purple sweater. That’s adorable. They send a text to Laf, “I think TJ and co. are coordinating today.” Then the phone goes on the table, everyone tries to not text when they’re all in person. 

“Okay, so yesterday a kid threw up on me,” starts Eliza. She’s in early childhood development. 

The mid-Friday bitch session. Whoever had the worst thing happen to them gets a baked good of he, her, or their choice. 

“Then the parents yelled at me.” Everyone winces. 

“Nuh-uh sis, I’ve got you beat. So, my calculus prof keeps misgendering me, then he goes on a rant, using a figurative person, that he refered to as “they” for like, a solid ten minutes, in the middle of class.” 

“Is that dramatic or situational irony?” asks James. 

“Both,” Peggy says. They both are fans of English lit and if anyone lets them go, the literally devices will go on for hours. John doesn’t care about internal rhyme and assonance. 

“We’re dealing with seal that’s awfully deformed because of those plastic six pack holders, and we can’t let it go again.” John says, morose. 

“Okay, so that’s awful,” James coos, “But pal (!!!), I’ve gotten roped into helping Tom mark French 101 verb quizzes and I don’t even speak French.”

“You get to spend an afternoon with your sig fig, which is stupidly punny, and you love it when they speak French,” chastises Peggy.

“Half points because Tom does it in a Southern accent?” John offers.

Dolley half-blushes, “Actually, that’s kind of endearing.”

Peggy and John both sigh. Eliza, stragetically in the middle, can swat both at the same time. 

“Well,” Dolley says, “I’m baking buns after this for people who hate hearing about the long and honoured history.” She doesn’t sounded pissed, more amused.

“Babe,” says James. “Babe, I love hearing about historical stuff. You just tell the same parts.” At her look, “My favourite parts, obviously.”

“Nerd,” says Thomas from behind their boyfriend. They are wearing a coordinating purple. John smiles.

“You enjoy physics so much you want to be referred to as my ‘sig fig’” James says. 

“Are you saying I’m not a significant figure in your life?” they respond, batting their eyelashes. 

Angelica is right behind them, “You know that’s not really what that means,” she rolls her eyes, drawing attention to her flawless eyeliner. 

Thomas squishes next to their sig figs, kisses James’s cheek, who’s right beside them, kisses the hand Dolley offers. Angelica, preserving dignity, pulls up a chair. 

“Who’s winning the worst thing game?” asks Angelica. 

“John’s rehabbing a permanently disabled seal, because of polluting humans, they have to look that poor thing in the eyes. But Peggy has a transphobic, hypocritical asshat for a prof giving lectures.”

“Prof Lee, the calc guy?” asks Thomas. 

“Yup,” says Peggy. 

“Peggy wins. All I got is a blister from breaking in my boots.” 

“Yeah,” says Angelica, “My worst is I lost a fight for my favourite eyeliner. It was the last damn liquid eyeliner in that store”

“What’s wrong with gel?” starts Dolley. 

Within moments, a huge eyeliner debate is sparked. John realizes their the only one without an opinion on this one, and tries to piece apart arguments. 

“Shut your lying mouth, pencil eyeliner is bullshit and for weak-ass middle schoolers!” throws out Angelica. 

“Liquid eyeliner turns your whole eyeball black the second you fuck up!” retorts Dolley, defending her group of sig figs. 

“Stop it!” shouts John. “Clearly none of you are going to concede your point, but you all could prove it to me, testing it on me so I can form an opinion?”

They had started strongly, but trailed off a little. 

Eliza and Thomas are giving them a proud little smile, while Dolley and Angie and Peggy look very deep in thought. 

“Bring your eyeliner tonight, this is on.” Is Angelica’s response. 

Peggy gets bought a slice of carrot cake, looking for too smug, then they all scatter, to class or in Dolley’s case, to get started on her buns. 

Upon picking up their phone, theres a text from Laf, “mon diue” followed by, “my poly fam will heed your warning and Step Up Our Game.”

After the conversations at lunch, the lab is very calm. John gets to work with their algae, the TA wanders around, she makes light conversation but is mostly there to get their lab sheets at the end. 

Their done just after four, and have twelve snaps from Alexander. They watch Alex’s struggle with cupcakes, but the chocolate cakes look okay once their done. 

John sends him back one form the subway. They stick their tongue out, caption it “omw, I’ll help decorate”

They run up the stairs, Alex greets them at the door, bear hugs and covers them in icing sugar. 

John washes up, and then helping divide the icing into separate bowls to colour them. Neither are talented in the kitchen, little drops of colour soon accompany the otherwise monotone coffee splotches on the papers Alexander has. 

“These aren’t important, right?” John asks, concerned. 

“Rough drafts.” Then Alex gives them a smirk. “How gay can we make these cupcakes?”

The answer is: very gay. 

John is a much better artist of the two, with better hand-eye coordination than Alex. On his side, Alex has a lifelong obsession with unicorns, and an uncanny ability to draw them, even in American buttercream. 

Their eventually laughing to hard, both from how ridiculous they’ve gotten and how much sugar the two have consumed. They load up the two dozen queer-cakes, as Alexander dubs them, and walk to the train. 

The pair, still walking with linked arms, nearly bump into Aaron outside the Schuyler’s apartment building. (Well, 2/3 Schuyler’s names are on the lease, Peggy is technically in residence.) 

Aaron has a glass box of asparagus. Aaron is one of the only people who can make green things taste good. Once, he showed up with brussel sprouts and there was a same fight over the last ones. John blurts out, “I forgot to mention I volunteered to judge eyeliner. Like, on my face.” Both Aaron and Alex smile,”Better you than me.” 

They both say it jokingly, but at the same time. Alexander spent most of first year in overlapping classes with Aaron and made point to antagonize him whenever possible. One thing lead to another, and they found themselves in a fistfight outside of a Walmart. 

An onlooker said, “You wouldn’t hit a girl!”

Alexander, distracted, had said: “Not a girl, asswipe!”

Aaron had said: “In this case, gender is irrelevant.” The he had socked Alexander in the nose. 

(Aaron was also only seventeen to Alexander’s nineteen.)

The two got along frightfully well after that incident. Aaron was more fond than exasperated, Alexander tried to aim for banter instead of inflammatory remarks. Never the less, the group shopped at Target after that. 

Alexander started in on asking Burr’s approach to a research paper. It was much more interesting to pay attention to now that they didn’t have to compare their own work to brilliant minds beside them. 

The conversation carries them up the stairs. John can actually contribute, though mostly making educated assumptions based on a semester of pre-law. 

Peggy opens the door to the apartment, there’s a full kitchen. Alexander is instructed to put the dessert down out of the way, an oxymoron considering there is zero counter-space. The fridge provides a haven for the cupcakes. Aaron's asparagus goes into the warming drawer, Angelica’s fancy like that.

Laf and their partners are there. Laf has presence, greeting John with a hug, then incorporates them into the conversation Thomas has started. The high difference is real and Alexander coos. Adrienne, Angelica, Dolley, and Herc are chatting, each holding a wine glass. They each look very feminine, sophisticated. Peggy and James are discussing the weirdest things that came up in AP English. The words “Frankenstein was bi and I have the receipts,” and “Richard the third can eat my ass,” are briefly overheard.

Thomas is very enthusiastically explaining how creampuffs are structurally just French donuts. An interesting concept, but Laf’s face shows mock-horror thinly masking amusement. John just laughs along, gently soothing when Thomas goes overboard. 

A glance around confirms that Laf and their partners are also coordinating, though much more subtly. All are dressed in complementary fall colours. 

Aaron and Alexander sit on the couch, every now and then Alexander will burst out laughing, less frequently, Aaron will scrunch up his face, half laughing at a pun. Alex and John must make eye contact, which makes Alex smile and wink. 

Angelica shouts, “Chickens ready!” which leads to a dash to the island where fod is spread out. The chicken is hot, bread rolls hot and buttery, and its quiet for a few minutes while people enjoy the company and food. 

For the second time that day, the conversation eventually turns to eyeliner.

“You’re up to modeling and judging eyeliner still?” asks Eliza, who says it nicely, but is also totally ready to win. 

“Hell yeah,” they respond, “I’m gonna look cute as fuck.”

The winner is undetermined. Pencil smudges but they kind of like that look. Once they got over having it in their eyes, liquid make them look “fierce.” Gel was a combination of the two. 

“You could always get it tattooed on,” offers Adrienne. “Holy shit, you are so hardcore,” is John's comment. 

Both Herc and Laf say, “I know right!” 

Which in some ways, settles that. 

The revealing of the cupcakes is another highlight of the night. The icing has preserved well and designs have preserved well. They open the box, place it in the middle of the table. “I’m actually pretty proud of these.” 

“We’re pretty proud of these,” says Alexander. 

“The unicorns are Alex’s contribution, I presume?” Thomas asks. 

“You wanna talk about it or do you want to eat cupcakes?” Alexander nearly growls. 

“Chill,” says Angelica. (Who has miraculous powers over the two in question.)

Fortunately, the cupcakes are delicious which stops any further arguments. 

The rest of the night is passed pleasantly, calm in ways that just create a blur in John’s head. Around eleven, everyone starts heading home, splitting cabs in the interest of safety. Its squishy but everyone is warm and satisfied, and its not unwelcome. 

John and Alexander have very similar pajamas, John sleeps in fleece pant bottoms and a hoodie year round, Alexander sleeps in sweatpants and a pullover. John drags Alex away from his notes, “Tomorrow,” they say. They kiss his forehead, because they can. 

“Tomorrow,” Alexander agrees. They fall asleep quickly, buried under a mountain of blankets and curled together, a bit like puppies. 

 

John wakes up the next day a little later. Their nose is still cold. Though they can’t see it, there’s eyeliner still on. (Probably a small adventure involved with dealing with that.) Laf has sent out the daily “pronouns?” text. Today, both Herc and Adrienne have responded right away. John sends, “they/them” today with a smiley face.

**Author's Note:**

> If you got through that, thanks for doing that. I like this lil nugget. 
> 
> This is part of a series because I've already got like ten ideas so idc??
> 
> If you leave a comment I will be stupidly happy so that would be amazing and thank.


End file.
